Tuesday, 26 July 2016

Who is your Brent Labour councillor backing for the Labour leadership?

Labour leadership supporters of Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith have been seeking support from Labour councillors. So far only seven of Brent's 56 Labour councillors have signed up. Statements and signatories below:

We are a group of
Labour Party councillors who are dismayed by the attempt by some within the
Parliamentary Labour Party to oust our democratically elected leader, Jeremy
Corbyn. Many of us were elected in May, where in spite of predictions of an
electoral meltdown, we won our seats. Voters who had previously felt abandoned
by the Labour Party returned to vote for us, returned as members, and returned
as campaigners.

It would be
utterly self-defeating for the people we represent if now, less than a year
after Jeremy was elected on the single biggest mandate of any previous leader,
he was to be forced from office. It is our view that the behaviour of some
members of the Parliamentary Labour Party is totally self-indulgent and at odds
with what the communities we represent need. We will risk losing all those new
members and enthusiastic campaigners who joined us because Jeremy offered a
vision of hope for the future.

Our enemy is not
Jeremy Corbyn – it is the Tory party and their plans to use the EU referendum
as a fig leaf to inflict further cuts to the councils we represent.

We hope that those
MPs who have embarked on this indulgent course of action will reflect on their
behaviour and turn their fire on the real enemy, the Tory Party.

Claudia Hector,Rita ConneelyJumbo Chan

BACK SMITHIn a month’s time, we will be casting our
votes for Owen Smith as Leader because we believe this is the only path forward
to a Labour Government and putting a stop to the immense damage the Tories are
doing to our communities and our nation.

We have closely watched the debate in our Party in recent weeks and are deeply
impressed with how Owen has done. He has driven home the message that the fight
Labour must lead is about tackling inequalities in wealth, power, outcomes and
opportunities, across our country.

Owen has convincingly made the case that he knows how to get things done and
has the tenacity and skill to advance the cause of working people. He has not
shied away from saying our Party has been too timid and that he would increase
taxes on the wealthy. He has set out a radical vision for a £200bn investment
programme, re-nationalising our railways and putting the decision to make war
firmly in the hands of elected MPs, not the Government of the day.

But there is more at stake here. There are militants in both wings of our Party
who are determined to carry out a civil war against each other, whether it
harms working people or not. We have intimidation and bullying in Constituency
Labour Parties up and down the country. We have those who seem to prefer
perpetual division to the job of winning power for the good of those we
represent. We need a unifying leader who is principled and competent.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Our country faces an existential threat from
nationalists and poor-bashing Tories. A new Scottish referendum is on the
horizon. This is no time for Labour to keep fighting itself. The next general
election has already begun. Owen Smith, with his experience, especially as
Shadow Secretary of State fighting austerity, has a firm grasp of the issues
and will be prepared to lead our party from day one.

Our party needs a leader who can win and is principled. That’s why we need your
support in backing Owen Smith.

3 comments:

Is there the remotest hope of getting the Tories out if Corbyn is the potential prime minister on offer to the electorate? No.Is there a chance that Smith would increase the chances of getting the Tories out? Undoubtedly, to some extent.Can anything be worse than the government we've got at the moment? Probably not.Would you wish running post-Brexit Britain on your worst enemy? Not sure.Labour was 16 points behind the Tories in the ICM(?) poll yesterday and that's after the internal Tory mayhem we've just witnessed. If May calls a snap election soon then she'll win it by a mile and Corbyn will have to resign. But she'll only gain just over a year before the next election and she'll probably then have to fight a stronger candidate than Corbyn. If she doesn't call an election then Corbyn will cling on and she won't have much trouble defeating him in 2020.That's probably what she'll do. Labour can dump Corbyn now or enjoy 4 more years of him not laying a finger on the government and then dump him in 2020.Chuck in a Labour split and it becomes clear that we're all probably f***ed.

PSAccording to the Guardian website Owen Smith has just promised ‘massive investment in the North of England to close the North-South divide and to deliver High Seed 3’. Presumably a proposal for a new network of interconnected cannabis farms from Birmingham to Hadrian’s wall. Over to you, Jeremy ......

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